Wow... it's been like a month since I've last updated. Sorry guys! And I left y'all on a cliff hanger. :/ Life has just been catching up to me at such a fast pace that it's been hard to find time to write. But, without further ado, here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Just my own characters.
Report!
And he was right. Naruto and the foxes had been ambushed three or four times within the first hour of trying to escape. The ambush was a joke though, taking no more than five minutes for each one to escape from the enemies. When the first surprise attack came, about three minutes before, Naruto wasn't being followed anymore. It was like the pursuers left the capturing for the ambushers. But of course that didn't work. It was like Orochimaru didn't know what he was doing; sending these idiots after a high ranking ninja. But, that of course wasn't the case. Orochimaru always knew what he was doing, in fact, it was like he was always three steps ahead of everyone. So Naruto knew something was going on, but he just didn't know what it was.
"We have about an hour left before we exit the forest, Taichou." Fili commented, her high pitch voice coming out clear against the wind as they ran at a fast pace.
Naruto nodded his head, feeling like if he tried to speak, all of his energy would leave him and he would end up collapsing and risk being caught. He wouldn't admit it, but he was becoming exhausted. The ambushers might have been complete idiots but they still made him use some energy to get rid of them. And to be honest, without Kyuubi, he was slowly running out of it. He figured it was from all of the blood he was losing from the wounds he received earlier. His sides were aching and he wasn't use to it. After having every wound healed within twenty minutes of receiving it for all of your life, you weren't accustom to the aching pain.
He gritted his teeth. He may have another hour before he escaped from this damned forest, but it was still another good ten to eleven hours before he reached his destination. He still had a good ways to go. And he planned on going straight there with no stops. He had to reach Sana. He couldn't leave her alone. She might have Tsunade and Gaara but he knew that she want him.
'Hold on Sana, I'm on my way.' He thought.
Within an hour of Fili speaking, the forest started to thin out. The group noticed but didn't say anything, they just kept on moving. They ran in silence at a fast pace that everyone was able to keep up with. As the trees became less and less, Naruto had a sense that no one was waiting for them or following them anymore. After many years with the nine-tails, he was well accustom to sensing not only peoples chakra to see who and how far away they were, but being able to sense just their person. And right now, he wasn't sensing anyone for a good few miles.
He put the thought to the side, knowing that he was unfocussed with the task at hand. With a shake of his head to clear it, he looked out of the corner of his right eye to where all three foxes were running next to him. They all looked a little tired, like the adrenaline was already leaving them, but they still had enough energy to keep pace and do whatever he needed. He looked past that, looking for any wounds that could be along them.
Fili didn't have any since she barely had any fighting time and she looked the best of the three. Tili had a small gash on his side that had stopped bleeding but left his fur a little soaked. A scratch was on the tip of his nose, probably where a kunai grazed him. Kili was probably the worst out of them but not by much. He went through the most fighting, however, he barely had any battle wounds. There was some dried blood all along his muzzle from where he had bitten a lot of the enemies but none of it looked to be his. Like Tili, he had some wounds along his sides and even though they were running, Naruto could sense that the leader of the three was limping.
Turning his gaze back towards the front, Naruto did a mental check-up of himself. He had many scratches all along his body and the two major wounds from where the kunai had penetrated his skin. He hasn't lost all that much blood so he wasn't exactly worried about that. There was some dried blood on his face, some his and the rest the enemies. Other than that, he was good on being wounded. Or lets hope.
"Taichou," Tili's masculine voice cut through to Naruto and he paused on his thoughts.
"Hm?"
"It is none of my business but I thought it might be wise to solicit a break." He purred.
Naruto trained his eyes on the fox, wondering why he wanted to take a break now. Foxes never usually spoke what was on their mind unless asked for their opinion and they never requested a break. Ever. Seeing this to be the first time, Naruto slowed his pace down and was soon walking. The foxes were right behind and quickly slowed down along side him.
Finding a random tree, Naruto went to it and leaned against it. As his body started to slow down, he realized with a start on just how tired he was. He felt a little drained of energy and his muscles were stiff and strained. With each heart beat of his, he felt a pulse of an annoying pain that wouldn't go away.
Resting his head back, he closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breathe.
A blur of words reached his ears a moment later. The words sounded sloppy and they were all jumbled together. He could barely hear let alone understand what was being said to him.
"Hm?" He sloppily made out.
"-chou. You... -ak..."
Naruto could tell it was one of the foxes speaking from the high pitched voice. What he couldn't tell was what they were saying. So he tried once again, "Hm?" He tilted his head a bit to the side and frowned. His eye lids felt to heavy to open so he kept them closed for the time being. His body was aching and all he wanted to do was lie here for a little longer.
"Tai-... must … -ak!"
He could hear the urgency in the fox's voice but he still couldn't understand what it was they were wanting. He must what? He put the two sentences together and that was what he got. He was about to make another sound when he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his leg. The pain was enough to snap his eyes open in a heartbeat and look around wildly.
Sitting before him were all three foxes. All three pairs of eyes were on his and from the glistening red liquid dripping down from Kili's jaw, he figured the damn fox bit him in the leg.
"What?" He snapped, pissed that the fox bit him. His leg stung and he felt the warm liquid sliding down his leg. Great, not only did he have wounds from escaping Orochimaru's lair, but now he had bite marks on his leg.
"You had to wake." Kili said, not at all affected by the tone of voice Naruto used. Flickering his tail to the West, he added, "The sun will begin to set if you kept sleeping."
Sleeping? Naruto wondered, his anger slowly fading. He pushed himself away from the tree and looked over to where the fox was pointing to with his tail. The sun was high in the sky, saying it was about two o'clock in the afternoon. Last he had noticed, it was hitting noon. Had he really been asleep?
Bringing his attention away from the sun, Fili cleared her throat and said, "If you leave now, you will manage to reach your destination around night. But you must leave now."
Catching on to what she was saying, Naruto nodded his head and said, "Does this mean we part now?" All three foxes nodded their heads. "Well alright then. Thanks for the help."
In unison, the foxes bowed low to the ground, their tails sweeping the forest floor. "Anything for you, Taichou." Tili commented. Before anymore conversation could be made, all three foxes disappeared in a cloud of orange smoke. The only traces they had been there was three scorch marks on the ground where they had been sitting.
Looking away from where the foxes vanished, Naruto stood up. His muscles felt stiff from his nap and he rolled his shoulders back, ignoring the pain caused by doing so. Just standing up, he realized how exhausted he felt even after sleeping for two hours. Every inch of him hurt.
"Well, it's a good thing I think ahead." He muttered to himself. He crossed his hands in front of his, releasing one of his jutsu's he had prepared a lot earlier in the day. Once the jutsu was done, he felt a lot better. He wasn't aching so much and his chakra was almost restored. Silently thanking his Sage clone, he rolled his shoulders back once more before he began his journey back to the Leaf.
XxxxX
"Your name and reason for being here."
"Kristy Wheeler and I came here to meet a good friend of mine." A young girl told the Leaf ninja standing guard at the gates of Konoha village. She reached into her bag slung over her shoulder for her identity papers before hanging them over to the guard before he had a chance to ask for them.
The guard took the papers and started to look them over. He then glance up to the girl. She had long blonde hair that went below her waist. They were in high piggy tails and sort of looked kidish. But they suit her. She was wearing a short orange mini-skirt with a black chain belt more for fashion than anything. For her shoes, she wore black knee-high boots with fish-net stockings. And on her top part of her, she was wearing a black tank top. She bright blue eyes shone with friendly-ness and she had an aura around her that yelled out excitement.
He looked back down at the paper and then handed the girl, Kristy, her papers back before stepping aside. "Welcome to the Leaf Village. I hope you find your friend." He said, wondering why her appearance sparked familiarity. He swore he had never seen her before but something inside him told him otherwise. But before he had a chance to say anything, she took her papers back and slightly bowed.
"Thank you." She told him and began her walk inside the village. As soon as she stepped foot inside the village, she made a quick scan of her area, making sure no one was watching her before she quickly jumped off the ground with enough force to allow her reach the roof tops. From there, she didn't even hesitate as she ran for the center of the whole village; the Hokage's office.
As she ran, she could feel her chakra slowly being drained. She was tired as hell from running through the whole night and because it was the early hours of morning, she had to fight back the urge to yawn. Yes, this girl here is Naruto Uzumaki. He had to change his appearance if he wanted to enter the village undetected so he used fake papers and name and he was granted access to the village. He's done this before on different occasions so he was used to it.
'She' ran as fast as her legs could carry her and barely stumbled from the lack of focus. 'She' was so close to her goal that 'she' couldn't even stop to rest, 'she' needed to reach Sana now and not later. He needed to make sure she was okay and still around.
Naruto jumped to the last roof before he bounded down to the ground, in the shadows of the building to remain undetected despite that he was still a girl. Better to be safe than sorry. Taking a second to catch his breathe, Naruto looked around himself. The streets were all deserted from bystanders so he wasted no time in running over to the front doors of the Hokage's tower.
Entering the building was like a piece of cake. Just like the last time. He flew down the halls and up the stairs to get to the highest level. But, that wasn't as easy as it was entering the building. As soon as he made it to the second floor, the ANBU ninja showed their faces.
"What're you doing in here?" One of them asked. By the tone of voice, Naruto could tell it was a male. He wore a dog's mask along with the standard uniform. He started to reach for his sword located on his back.
Not feeling like answering the man, Naruto pulled some kunai from his skirt's pocket and flung them at all three of the guards. Attached to the knives were explosive tags. The other two guards were able to jump to safety but Dog didn't have time and took all three of the explosions. When the dust cleared away, he laid breathing and unconscious on the ground.
One of the other guards, wearing a monkey mask, immediately went hand-to-hand combat with Naruto who was already prepared for it. Every time the Leaf ninja went for a kick or a punch, Naruto blocked it and threw one of his own. Ninety percent of the time his hits met target but the occasional one or two missed. The hand-to-hand combat maybe lasted a minute or two before Naruto hit the ANBU square in the mask, cracking it. The person was sent flying back from the force and hit the wall. He gave a shudder and then passed out.
All that was left was the last person. It was definitely a female before the mask by the body structures. She had a lot of curves to her figure and the way she held herself you knew she was a girl. And the long black hair was a give away. For her mask, it was a tiger mask.
"Are you prepared to be beaten and thrown in the prison?" She asked and from her tone of voice, it was confirmed it was a girl. To high pitched to be male.
Naruto smirked through the mask he was wearing. Using his own voice, though it was a girls, he said, "If you fight like the other two, then this should be a piece of cake." And then he throw himself at the ANBU.
Within thirty seconds, the last guard was slumped against the wall, unconscious. Naruto shook his head, realizing that these three ANBU were newbies from their lack of skill. There was no way the ANBU squad would be complete idiots that didn't know how to fight and be under the command of Sasuke. There was just no way.
Just as he was about to take off at a run to the office door one floor up, Naruto almost collapsed. The exhaustion was getting to him. All of the chakra he had saved from his Sage clone was used for making it here but now it was gone. He barely had any strength left.
"Shit..." He mumbled but didn't press the matter much more. Not giving himself time to fall, he began to run as fast as he could. The only thing keeping him going was the thought of knowing his sister was just one floor above him. And so was his healer. That was all that mattered.
"Almost there..." It took some time, but he made it up the stairs, tripping once but catching himself the last minute. When he made it on the top floor, he felt it before he actually saw it. Having been with that chakra all his life, he could feel Kyuubi, even though her chakra was hidden. A smile crept onto his face. A smile of relief that the two made it here and this wasn't some wild goose chase.
As he walked down the hall -surprised to see no guards on this level which was weird-, Naruto made it to the final door. He reached out for the door and turned it. Only, it wouldn't turn. Not feeling like waiting, he used force upon the door and broke it by forcing it opened. A locked door was not going to stop him.
On the inside, a couple of people looked up. The Hokage, Kazekage, and the two other sand siblings. There was one other person in the room but she didn't look up or made the motion that she even heard someone open the door.
"Report." Naruto simply stated in that feminine voice as he began his strut into the office. No one moved except for everyone tensing to see some stranger walking in. But before they could comment on anything, the jutsu Naruto was using started to fade. It looked like fire was eating away at the skin and clothing and underneath the skin was a whole new different person. In a matter or seconds, the girl that had walked into the room was transformed to the blonde haired man they were all waiting for. Except that instead of him being normal and healthy, he was bleeding in many places, some of the wounds had opened up, and he looked exhausted. Purple bags were under his eyes and he walked like it was hard on him. Scratches were all over his skin and his clothes were a bit ragged and torn in different places.
When no one had answered him, he almost growled, "Report."
Kyuubi, who had been curled up in a ball at Sana's feet, leaped to her feet and arched her back at her host. Her teeth were barred and her fangs could be seen. The fur on her back was risen and she spoke to him, 'I heard you the first time.' She hissed as her fur began to lie flat again. 'There is nothing to report on my half. We got here safely. But you on the other hand,' She gazed him up and down before a frustrated sigh escaped her lips. 'Looks like I'm going to be busy for a while.'
Naruto continued to walk into the room and still nobody moved. The vibe he was giving off was one of impatience. He just nodded his head to the fox and his eyes immediately sought out Sana. He found her and his gaze softened a bit.
All eyes were on Naruto but changed when they noticed the nine tailed fox start to change. Red chakra started to come off of her in waves and they were headed straight towards the blonde. Neither of them said anything as this went on. Soon, Kyuubi's form started to get smaller and smaller until she completely disappeared.
"Sana." Naruto softly said, feeling a little bit better now that his tailed beast was back and healing him. He could hear her in the back of his mind, grumbling about how she only left his for so many hours and he comes back being battered and bruised. More work on her part. But he ignored her and focused all of his attention to a young girl whose head slowly rose.
A pair of forest green eyes meet a pair of bright blue ones and they locked for maybe a minute. Naruto was still walking towards her and he maybe had another yard to go when the teenager shakily rose to her feet, using the wall as support.
"N-Naruto." She whispered, tears stinging her eyes.
"Hey sweetie." Was his response and he gave her a lopsided grin. "Sorry I'm late." Suddenly, Sana closed the space between them and threw herself into his arms, sobbing into his chest. Naruto was already expecting such movement and was prepared. He picked her up like she was a little kid and not a teenager and hugged her.
"I was so scared," She whispered as she clung to him.
Naruto nodded and rubbed her back in small circles. "I know and I'm so sorry. If only I had come sooner." And not had been so selfish. He thought. He pushed that thought away and finally acknowledged the other people in the room. The Sand siblings were on the other side of the wall. Temari and Kankuro were sitting on a couch that hadn't been there before. They were both alerted and had their eyes glued to their adopted kin. Gaara was standing next to them but he was leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed and he caught Naruto's eyes. They stared at one another for maybe a few seconds. Then Gaara nodded his head and Naruto looked away to the last person in the room. Tsunade was standing up with her chair behind her, touching the back of her legs. She was starring at the two in the center of the room with sad but happy eyes to see them reunited again.
"Tsunade..." Naruto said in a soft voice. He had stopped walking after picking his sister up. Said name stood at alert and blinked at him for him to continue. Swallowing, he continued, "Thank you. For everything." She would never know how much this had meant to the blonde. He had already been notified from the fox that the hokage had healed the worst of Sana's wounds and that, he was thankful for.
She nodded her head, feeling a little disoriented. "A-anytime." She managed to say. She cleared her throat, wanting to say more. Who knows, this was probably the last time she was going to see him in a long time. He was, after all, 'dead'. "W-what are you going to be doing now?" She asked, feeling her voice shake. She wanted to know where he was headed off too so that maybe, maybe one day she could go visit him and not have him risk coming back here.
Naruto noticed and gave her a tired smile. He shrugged his shoulders, stilling rubbing his sister's back and said, "Probably go to a small town to rest for now." He looked over to Gaara and told him, "We won't be coming home for maybe a week. I just want to make sure she's okay." He said, gesturing to Sana.
"Don't be gone for too long." Was all Gaara said, but he approved.
The blonde nodded and shifted his sister in his arms so he could hold her better on his side like a little kid. "Sana," he softly said, not wanting to scare her. Said name looked up a little to see his face. She sniffled and had silent tears still streaming down her face, but remained quiet. "Do you think you could teleport us out of here? I don't have enough strength left to run." While saying that, he could feel his wounds beginning to heal. His chakra was slowly being replenished by Kyuubi's but he knew that he would have to rest in order to feel energized.
She nodded her head.
Naruto nodded and gave her the signal to pause for a second. He looked back to Tsunade and told her, "You will want to be on the look out, Baa-chan."
Tsunade's face immediately became guarded as she asked, "Why? What has happened?"
"Orochimaru," He said. "I got a first glance of what his army is. Not real strong ninja, but he has many of them. I don't know when they'll move out, but be on guard." He turned to Gaara. "You too. I highly doubt he'll attack the Sand, but we can never be to sure."
"I'll alert the guards and have more ninja put on posts." Tsunade said, sounding professional.
Naruto nodded. "Just be careful."
"You too, Naruto." The hokage said, her voice switching back to sounding sad. "You too."
Nodding his head in thanks, he squeezed his sister to show he was ready to leave. Sana nodded and closed her eyes, thinking of a hotel far, far away from here before teleporting Naruto and herself out of the Leaf's village.
XxxxX
To be honest, I was so excited to write this chapter. I pictured it to be bad ass. But... it wasn't. To be honest, I don't really like how I did this chapter. It could be so much better, you know? But I don't know how to do that. Oh well.
And just an FYI, I came to the end of my writing that I wrote in a spiral. Before, I would write the story on paper and then transfer it to the computer. But now, I reached the ending point of my writing. It's not bad, don't get me wrong. But, I just have no idea how long it will take to get the next chapters up. Hopefully not long as before, but just don't have your hopes up too high. ;P i'll continue writing! I promised y'all I would finish this story and I'm keeping that promise!
And one more thing, thanks to all that participated in the Black Out!
~Kairi
